Worsening situation in West Asia

Aug 14, 2014

By Anil Netto
So Obama has ordered air strikes on Iraq to curb the advances made by Isis (now known as the Islamic State) — the latest stage in the ongoing and escalating violence in West Asia. It follows the Islamic State’s brutal and alarming territorial advances as it picks up and consolidates large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The deteriorating situation in both these nations has prompted the Bishop of Rome, Francis, to speak out, “The news reports coming from Iraq leave us in dismay and disbelief. Thousands of people, including many Christians, driven from their homes in a brutal manner.

“Children dying of hunger and thirst in their flight, women abducted, violence of every kind, destruction of historical, cultural and religious patrimonies.”

Francis is now sending a personal envoy to northern Iraq, the Vatican heavy weight Cardinal Filoni, to see what he can do. Filoni had earlier suggested that the worsening situation in Iraq could be traced to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

(It was Pope John Paul II who had warned the United States against launching an illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.)

War has a way of unleashing unintended consequences that can extend far into the future. “Since 2003, the situation has never improved,” Filoni was reported as saying in an interview with Avvenire, a daily publication of the Italian bishops’ conference. “I believe John Paul II was right when he warned the political leaders at that time to rediscover the paths of a peace that was not [found] and for [the lack of which] we are suffering these consequences today.”

Even in the case of Isis, the superpowers prevaricated and declined to act earlier.

Some have suggested this was because, for a while, Isis’ goals appeared to be aligned to superpowers’ — that is the removal of the Assad regime in Syria, while some even preferred Iraq to be carved up. So the cries of those who were persecuted, tortured, executed and driven from their homes — Christians, Shias and other minorities — were largely ignored.

One question that has to be answered is, where are the fighters of the Islamic State getting their weapons from? In the early stages, analysts pointed out that the United States was supporting the “moderate Islamists” who were fighting against the Assad regime in Syria. And over in Iraq, the Iraqi military was supported by the United States.

So when the Islamic State eventually attracted even the ‘moderate’ fighters in Syria and when it overran Iraqi military bases in northern Iraq, the Caliphate’s military and weapons’ capabilities expanded tremendously. (Unfortunately, back in June, our prime minister told Umno members that they should emulate the bravery of Isis fighters. If he realises it was a mistake, he hasn’t said anything to clear it up.)

Meanwhile, it seems that only when the interests of pro-US Kurds are being threatened in northern Iraq that Obama was stirred into action. Just as in the case of the invasion of Iraq, then under Saddam, previously a US ally, the three-letter word OIL is avoided in news coverage of the war and violence or in analysing superpower motives.

As the veteran correspondent Robert Fisk pointed out, had the Kurds territory been regarded as a nation, it would have been among the top ten oil-producing countries in the world. Major multinational oil corporations are operating there. No one is going to be allowed to threaten their profits and shareholders’ returns. (Of course there is another group profiting immensely from all these military exploits: the major weapons suppliers who now have to supply fresh orders to replenish the depleting stocks of those involved in the conflicts.)

It would seem that the Islamic State (previously Isis) was allowed to consolidate their gains and expand as long as their goals were in alignment with the superpower’s but once their interests are threatened, they could well find the tables turned on them. As Fisk pointed out, the US drones had previously targeted Afghanistan while much of the attention in the US media was more recently focused on Ukraine and Russia.

Sadly, ordinary people — whether persecuted Christians, Shias, Gazans or Ukrainians — who face harrowing persecution, torture or execution are like expendable pawns in regional military chess games for global supremacy.

Elsewhere, many ordinary people tend to take sides in these conflicts depending on their religious affiliations. More Muslim groups seem to express solidarity with the wretched suffering in Gaza, many of them Muslims, while many Christians are understandably alarmed by the persecution of Christians, in Iraq especially. But we need to bear in mind that Christians are also suffering in Gaza while Shias have been executed in Iraq as well.

Wouldn’t it be more in keeping with our spiritual tradition if we can extend our solidarity and empathise with all those who are suffering? For as Jesus indicated in his parable of the Good Samaritan, anyone who is suffering and abandoned should be regarded as our neighbour for whom we should display love and compassion.

In the midst of all this, perhaps we can find rays of hope in the breaking of boundaries — as when a thousand Gazan Muslims found a safe haven in a Greek Orthodox Church and when Shiite institutions in Najaf and Karbala provided refuge for fleeing Iraqi Christians. These acts of kindness and compassion offer a balm of hope in a world seething with hatred and violence. And God knows we need that.